Lost, or are we?
by PARTNERS-OF-CRIME
Summary: Ava, Dale, Mel, and Sam get lost in the woods. Deep in the woods they discover something that will change their lives forever. By: Atlantis
1. Lost

Chapter one: Lost

Ava sat in silence, staring wide-eyed at the beautiful forest on either side of her, tall dark trees, fallen moss covered logs, bright colored mushroom's and flowers peeking up everywhere. A squirrel sat, perched on a branch, nibbling at a nut, and staring.

Then she looked down at the beautiful mare she was riding. It was a palomino, with a black mane; the glossy sandy colored hide almost shimmered. The horse had deep blue eyes and a small black shaped star on her forehead. It was a tall, lean horse with black around its hooves. The smooth mane fell gracefully down its neck and over its forehead.

She smiled, and looked to her right, where Sam, one of her fiends, was sitting atop a tall white stallion, with a shockingly dark mane, and black spotted legs. And, admittedly, she resembled a sack of potatoes. She seemed to be lost in thought, her glasses were sliding off her nose, and her black hair, now grown long once more, fell freely down her back, black as her horse's mane. Sam was a tall, (around 5'11") paler girl with a few freckles, and brown eyes. She loved the color green, and you could tell, at the moment she was wearing a bright green t-shirt, and jeans, green earrings and a necklace, also in green. She was often hyper, loved candy, writing, and al things squirlly-penguiny-cheesey. she was madly in love with Sirius, Daniel Radcliff, and Yuki Sahoma.

Ava turned a bit in the saddle to see Mel, right behind her, also slightly potato-sackish on her chestnut mare. The glossy brown hide, and dark mane, and big brown eyes gave the mare almost a doe-ish look. Mel smiled and waved as Ava turned around, and she returned the gesture. Mel was on the shorter side, around 5'4" with brown hair, which was in a neat ponytail, and blue eyes, and pale-ish freckled skin. She was usually more the thinker, she was great at math and devoured books like candy. Also she tended to be the more serious, sarcastic type, who loved to hug. At the moments she wore a purple t-shirt with the phrase "Those who think they know it all, annoy those of us who do" printed on the front, some jeans, and a long purple pendant.

On her right, finally, was Dale. Dale was about Ava's height, more in the middle at 5'6" or 5'7" ish. She had a slight Korean look to her, dark skin and hair, that was now just past her shoulder blades Also hung loose. Dale was a great artist, and loved to write, she also loved all things cameo, moshing, harder rock, Kyo, Remus, and werewolves. She wore a cameo tank top, and a pair of brown cargo pants. Right now she seemed to be muttering things to her tall, graceful and sleek black stallion.

Ava was a tallish 5'7 ½ " girl wish pale skin, some freckles, and blue green grey eyes. Her ashy-blonde hair was up in a messy ponytail. She loved music, acting, reading and writing, the fact that she may or may not be good at any of these things is irrelevant. She was what some called "funny" and other called "corny" or perhaps a strange mix of the two. At the moment she was wearing a dark blue Roxy t-shirt, and a pair of dark stretchy jeans. She wore a silver and blue necklace, and dark blue studs. She had ridden probably more than any of them, considering she lived around them for a large portion of her life.

Ava, Sam, Dale, and Mel had been friends for a long time, and this summer, Ava had hauled them with her to her summer home in Idaho. After spending a few weeks lazing around her house, watching movies and generally getting fat, they decided on going for a trip and this horseback ride through the Clearwater woods in Idaho. Their guide, a tall lanky girl with braided light brown hair, and numerous freckles sat gracefully on her light brown mare ahead of them. Numerous other tourists filed in front and behind them, a man with a bright yellow button up t-shirt, and large set woman with frizzy brown hair and a large camera around her neck, a snot-nosed 9year old with a buzz light-year shirt, and a tall gawky 8 year old girl with stringy blonde hair in pigtails, two missing front teeth and a "I love Idaho" shirt were only a few.

After about an hour of riding, the group stopped for lunch. Another guide, a tall, skinny blonde haired guy, who'd been bringing up the rear, stood by the brown braided girl, and together they shouted and instructed the group to "tie up their horses on a strong tree, give their horses space, please, do not walk right behind the horses and to line up to receive the lunches they paid for from the guides saddle bags. And please do not litter, pick up all trash at place it in the provided sacks tied to the guide's horses, please do not pick the flowers, or feed the wildlife….." it went on and on.

Finally after everyone was settled with a lunch the guides disappeared a little into the woods for a long and aggressive session of tonsil hockey. Sam, Mel, Dale, and Ava walked a bit away from the group to eat their lunch, Ava and Dale both sat on a recently-fallen log, and leaned against the trees on either side. Mel sat on a nearby boulder and Sam simply sat in the soft grass in the center of them all. They talked as they ate their sandwiches and munched their chips. They talked about How the guides were seriously snogging, and about the horses, and overall the lameness of the passengers and the pace. They all longed to let the horses gallop at least, and Ava especially, who'd ridden a lot, wanted to run.

They finished eating way ahead of the rest of the group, stuffed all their garbage in the brown paper bags, and, crumpling them up tossed them in the trash bags. Ava sighed and looked around

"well this sucks" she announced. Sam sighed deeply. Mel nodded and dale mumbled something dark. They waited around for a bit, staring at the tourists, and making faces at the little boy. Soon though they got amazingly, retardedly bored and finally, dale could take it no longer.

"Come on these people will be eating for hours, lets explore or something, I'm going _nuts_!"

"No way." Mel said at once "were going to get lost."

"Awww common Mel" Sam whined "we wont go that far."

"Ya" Ava agreed "come on, if I have to look at that florescent yellow shirt any longer I'm going to go blind."

"Hello? Haven't you guys read those books where the kids go exploring and get lost? Its _so_ cliché."

"Exactly." Ava prodded "and that's exactly why its not going to happen."

"If you don't come willingly, I'm going to drag you." Dale said grinning evilly.

"Fine," Mel consented finally "but we're _not_ going far."

"Of course not!" Sam said half heartedly, grabbing Mel by the arm and grabbing her by the arm and dragging her along with the rest of them. They walked for a ways, into the shady forest, the birds sang, and those funny woodsy things made those funny woodsy noises. The group talked and laughed, and soon, they lost track of time. Finally Ava stopped. The others slowed and loosed back. "Hey guys," she gulped "does anybody know where we are?"

Mel's mouth dropped open, and she began to say something when Sam shouted "LOOK! A DEER!" and galloped off into the forest. Dale, Ava and Mel stood, speechless for a moment, before reluctantly running after her. They raced farther and farther into the forest, just barely keeping sight of Sam. The green of her shirt, though bright, was still green and was hard to distinguish. Sam ran amazingly fast. They struggled to keep up. Finally, Sam slowed, and finally stopped, panting for breath. The others came running up panting and wheezing. Between breaths Ava gasped

"What……the…..frap….made…..you…do…that????" she collapsed in a blue heap on the leafy forest floor.

"Idiot…" Dale gasped, falling besides Ava. Mel collapsed besides them and Sam stood, leaning against a tree for support. Finally when they all caught their breath, Sam stood.

"did you guys see that deer? It was HUGE!" she grinned and sat down beside them.

Dale simply raised her head and glared. Ava, who had been in the process of raising her head dropped it with a groan. Mel sat up facing her,

"What were you THINKING Sam?" she accused. "Now were amazingly hopelessly lost in this huge forest, and its all your fault."

Sam, taken aback cried "What? My fault? We were hopelessly lost already, thanks to DALE" she glared at the heap of cameo.

Dale raised her head "Ya well we wouldn't even BE here if it wasn't for Ava!"

Ava, just stared, her mouth open but not working. The idea just wasn't sinking in. they…they were lost. In the amazingly huge Clearwater woods. Alone. With no supplies. She couldn't believe it she expected to wake up. The faint din of her friends arguing just didn't mix with the peaceful birdsong. And soon, she started to panic.

"What.. What the heck are we supposed to do?" she asked, scared.

"How the bloody hell am I supposed to know" Sam shot back. Who was also staring to freak.

"Guys…we've..we've gotta get back before they leave" Ava was getting really frantic. She wasn't cut out for this. She couldn't survive in the woods. They had nothing. And that's worse than a lot of kids on books. At least they have things like tents, or hatchets.

"We know!" the yelled in union

at once they all stood, and ran in separate, each now in full panic mode. Sam was running in circles, shrieking. Mel was running about frantically around a large tree mumbling,

"Moss.. WHERE THE HELL IS THE FLIPPEN MOSS!" and Dale, running right and left, jumping vainly to see was cursing in an increasingly loud voice. Ava ran about murmuring and attempting vainly to climb trees, she finally succeeded in one and scrambled up its top limbs searching vainly for a hint of the trail they'd been on. They each went about panicking in their own ways until they finally exhausted themselves. Ava climbed down from the tree. They three ceased their running and all of the fell once again the ground, feeling utterly helpless. Finally they crawled to each other and sat in a circle

"ok." Mel said in a much calmer voice "now, we can't panic-"

"too late." Ava cut in, sighing.

Mel glared at her before continuing "anyway, we've gotta stick together, lets try to retrace our steps."

Dale, Sam, and Ava agreed and they set off in the direction they most agreed on. They walked for hours, in silence each hoping, at least to find the trail, so they could walk back. But it was not to be. They ended up even more lost. They slowly stopped each one of them knowing it was no use. They were lost in woods. And it was getting dark.

A.N. lol i know a little chiche, but it will get diffrent, you'll see! please R&R


	2. Surviving, or trying too

Chapter two: Surviving….or trying too

They were lost… hopelessly so. After their vain attempts at finding the trail, they wandered aimlessly through the woods. Their energy drained from panicking and searching. The wandered about as it got dark, passing tree, after tree…. They seemed to be walking in endless circles. The trees, everyone just as tall, dark and menacing as the last, looked down and whispered their disapproval. Owls hooted, things screamed, weird clicking noises drifted in the wind. Tired as they were, as the night grew darker, each one started getting goose bumps, Ava's nerves were stung tight, and every breaking twig, every subtle noise, made her jump. All four gazed around warily, and wearily. The night got darker, and colder. They shivered, miserable, and scared, and o the brink of exhaustion. Finally late, late in the night they collapsed. Huddling together for warmth they drifted off into fitful dreams, there on the hard, forest floor.

Ava awoke to a bright light in her eyes. It was starting to warm up .she squinted, thankful for the warmth of the sun. She sat up slowly, blinking a stretching. For a moment she had absolutely no idea where she was. And then it all came flooding back. The horse ride, the exportation, the deer chase, the panicking, and the desperate night.

Beside her Sam lay curled up in a ball, her glasses in the small space between her and her legs, twigs and leaves were stuck in her hair. Dale, with her head on of Sam's legs lay in a weird crumpled shape, a leaf stuck to her face, and twigs and leaves also littered her hair. Finally, with her head on dales stomach was Mel, on her side. She was slightly curled up, her hair also a nest of leaves and twigs.

Ava reached up and touched her own hair. Finding, as she expected, dirt, leaves, and twigs, she slowly began picking them out of her hair, and trying to shake the dirt out by flipping her hair violently. When this did nothing but give her a headache, she decided to see if she could find a stream.

She walked a little ways, and found the first good luck they'd had, except maybe for not being eaten. There was a small merry bubbling stream water so clear you could she the pebbles gleaming. Almost like gems….. In fact, they were a little to much like gems. But, Ava, eager to get clean kneeled on the bank by the stream, plunging her head into the stream.

Immediately she sprang back, the water was bitingly cold. Her hair, though wet, still needed scrubbing however. She slowly approached the steam again, and with a deep breath lowered the ends of the stream into the waster, forcing her hands in to scrub, slowly, she managed to scrub all her head, and amazingly, the water didn't seem as cold as it did at first. She finally stood, having scrubbed her face, hair and hands toughly, she walked back, hair dripping to her dozing comrades.

When she returned, she found them all up, except for Mel. Dale was up in a tree scanning the forest, and Sam was rubbing the lenses of her glasses on her shirt, before returning them to her face. They both spotted Ava about the same time. Sam raced over

"Where the bloody hell do you go? We've been searching every where, Dale thought you'd gone and gotten yourself eaten." Dale climbed back down, landing neatly on her feet, and stalked over.

"Actually it was verging more on the hope that you got eaten." She muttered. Dale never was a morning person. Harsh as she sounded she smiled faintly. Then Sam noticed her hair.

"What the heck?" she gasped touching it lightly

"What?" Ava asked slightly worried "all I did was wash it"

Dale snorted "in what? Dye and sparkles?"

Ava's mouth dropped open "what are you guys talking about?"

They stared "Your…." Sam began "well your hair…."

"Has blue streaks." Dale finished bluntly "and you've got blue sparkly crap in it." Sam leaned n closer to peer at her hair and gasped.

"They're gems!!!" she screamed "holy cow Ava!"

"What?" Cried dale incredulously she grabbed s handful of Ava's hair peering at it. After a minute she dropped it. "She's right." She murmured, staring. Ava gaped

"WHAT?" she cried "but…but…"

"And it's not wet either." Sam observed fingering her hair. Ava took a lock of her hair staring blankly at it. It was dry, that was true. It was also a lot curlier than she remembered and vivid aqua streaks ran through it, spotted by small aquamarines, it seemed to have grown 5 inches as well, and hung, curling down her back. She looked up, amazed at the faces of her friends.

"That…is…so…weird.." she stated dazedly. Behind them, Mel sat up. Stretching and yawning. She stood, brushing twigs and leaves off her jeans and shirt, and strode over, looking as fresh as if she'd just spent the night at the Hilton.

"Hey guys!...erm… nice…hair Ava" she said grinning. All three glared at her. Why couldn't she wake up ugly and groggy and grumpy like everyone else? Mel was more of a morning person, if you couldn't already tell. They stood. Not knowing quite what to say to each other. I mean what do you say when your lost in the middle of the woods, and one of your friend's hair has just turned an unnatural color, and is misted with jewels?

"So where exactly is this….stream?" dale asked, innocently. Ava sighed.

"Here… I'll show you." And she started off in the direction she'd come. Mel was a bit confused, but followed. She walked up to dale and Sam, asking what was going on. They explained as they walked. Soon they came once again to the stream. The stones at the bottom glittered, and now, fully awake, Ava could see plainly that they were in fact, gems. Mel, dale and Sam stared, open mouthed. Mel cleared her throat.

"So.. Now what do we do?"

"What do you mean, 'what do we do'?" dale exclaimed "obviously, we rob this thing blind!" she grinned and approached the edge of the stream. Sam stuck her hand out, stopping her.

"What the heck do you think your doing?" she demanded. Dale blinked.

"Robbing it… blind?" she said, shifting her eyes. Sam sighed.

"You can't just rob a stream."

"Why?" dale asked

"Because!" Sam exclaimed "you.. You just _can't_."

"Sam's right." Mel said "you can't."

"But why?" dale whined

"BECAUSE!" the three shouted. Dale sighed, shrugging off Sam's arm, muttering something about wasting perfectly good jewels.

"Why don't you guys wash your hair or something, see if it happens to you" Ava suggested. Dale shrugged, seeing no cons in having her hair dyed and coated in costly jewels, she advanced before anyone could say anything, dropping to her knees and plunging her head into the water, and scrubbing it vigorously before jumping back, shivering.

"HOLY CRAP THAT'S FLIPPEN COLD!" she yelled shivering. The rest just stared. Her black hair was streaked with a amber shade, and flecks of amber showed in her long hair…. Come to think of it… when had dales hair gotten so long? But what they stared at most was the strange… furry ears on top of her head. They gaped, saying nothing.

"soo…." Dale asked the cold water waking her up fully. "Have I been jewl-a-fied?" the nodded, speechless.

Sam, now amazingly curious, raced to the waters, edge, following dales example of punching in scrubbing vigorously and emerging. Gasping and sputtering. She raced back to them. They turned their attention to Sam, whose hair had become straighter, and streaked with green. Sparkles of green peridots flecked her hair, and her hair seemed to have grown a whole bunch, it now came to just past her butt.

Now, Melanie, knowing she had too, approached the stream wearily. She kneeled slowly, and taking a deep breath plunged her head in. after vigorous scrubbing she too emerged gasping and blinking, shivering like mad. Her hair had be come wavy and down her back streaked in bright purple, and flecked with almost blood red, and purple jewels.

They stood silent for a few moments taking in each others new appearances, then they started all at once describing to each other how the other looked, amazed and surprised. For the first time that morning they were genuinely enjoying themselves. This too, was not meant to last long, for before long there excited chatter was interrupted by a loud, low growl. They all froze, across the stream and in the shadow of thickly clustered trees, something moved. Something really large. Something… angry.

A.N. See? told ya it got...weird. lol, sorry i'm a little rusty, not to mentnion it's midnight! well anyway please R&R!


	3. A Chase and a Fall

Chapter three: A Chase and a Fall

The trees shook again, this time harder, another growl resonated through the air, paralyzing the girls in terror. Suddenly a long black arm, scaly black with razor sharp talons reached, out of the trees, getting slowly and steadily closer. The talons flashed in the morning sun, momentarily blinding the girls, and at the same time snapping them out their daze.

Sam screamed, Ava yelped and all four girls spun and began running for their lives. A screech of rage followed, and the ground shook as the thing began pursuing them. The girls ran like they never knew they could. Leaping over obstacles, dodging trees and branches. Speeding everywhere, anywhere.

But as fast as they ran, the thing was catching up.. And fast. The girls began to tire, their breaths coming in short ragged gasps. Ava didn't know how much longer they could take it, she was about to collapse.

Her legs felt like lead, no matter how quickly her heart was beating, or how hard her mind screamed "RUN! RUN YOU IDIOT!" she noticed half heartedly, that the trees had grown closer together, their branches weaving so thickly together, that even in the bright morning sunshine, she could now hardly see in front of her.

Sam, beside her was breathing hard, and everyone's pace was slackening. Just as Ava thought she could run no longer, it was now so dark she couldn't see a thing, her leg caught something, and she fell tumbling over what felt like a wall, she fell, expecting the hard thump, maybe a few broken bones before the huge monster cam to finish her off…

But none came. She reached out her arms, blindly vainly trying to locate on of her friends, she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came. It was as if she were caught in a nightmare. Suddenly the dark exploded into a fusion of color, ever color imaginable and those even unthinkable. And not the cheap Crayola stuff, the kind of colors you only see in glimpses, like when your spraying water with the hose, the kind of color that takes your breath away. Her body hit something, the impact felt like a million needles, she rushed deeper and deeper into cold….so cold….then…everything went utterly and completely black.

A.N. I know a shorty, but really I just had to end it there. besides i think i may have a fever... anyway Please R&R!


	4. Ava's Arrival

Chapter Four: Ava's Arrival

Slowly Ava began to regain consciousness. She could feel the solid ground beneath her. She felt as if she was on some springy carpet, and something was tickling her face… she managed to pry her eyelids apart.

She stared up, amazed. It was as if she'd shrunk. The tree tops she could barely see at a distance, way, way up high. The trunks were as large as minivans. And those were the smaller ones. She sat up, staring about in complete astonishment. She was laying in a small, grassy meadow. It was perfectly circular, the large trees spacing almost an exact distance apart.

The grass was amazingly soft and springy, Ava jumped experimentally. She was amused to find herself launched about a foot up into the air.

"Well," she muttered out loud "that must explain the no broken bones factor….well…I mean… I guess."

Flowers poked out of the ground of all different colors, there was one, just a few feet away at the edge of the meadow, it was large, and almost a neon purple flower, its large pistle looked like pure gold, and pollen looking like pure fine gold dust was sprinkled on its large, smooth petals. It stood probably about to Ava's knee.

Cool shadows flitted over the small meadow, changing with the swaying branches far, far above. The air smelled sweet and clear. And, come to think of it, the tree trunks looked a bit funny. She approached, springing lightly on the grass.

As she got closer she realized that the bark wasn't rough, in fact it was perfectly smooth. It resembled a very large, highly polished, expertly cut… piece of strange furniture. She reached one of the nearest trees and reached out her hand tentatively. It was smooth and sleek to the touch. But somehow it was very alive, it was almost warm, and a small, friendly tingling lingered on her hand when she had withdrawn it. She sighed in confused wonder.

First of all, where the heck was she? And second of all, where the heck were her friends? She sighed and stepped away from the tree collapsing on the grass only to be sprung back up about a foot in the air. She scrambled in the air and landed in a very undignified heap on the grass bouncing a few times before settling down. Ava gave another deep sigh, and a small giggle. She was going to have to get used to that.

She untangled herself slowly and thoughtfully. She'd read books like that. A great many in fact. In each one the heroine or hero somehow found his way to civilization. Of course, that was in the books. Who knew what this place actually was. There was no way there was a whole other dimension…was there? She gently massaged the bridge of her nose, staring down at the springy mass of grass underneath her, thoughtfully.

She didn't know how long she sat there before there was a small rustle and out stepped Sam in her new green haired glory into the little clearing. Sam giggled and sprung around on the grass. Then she spotted Ava sitting on the grass staring.

"AVA!" she called excitedly "I found you! Doesn't this place ROCK YOUR SEXI FUZZY SOX?" Ava smiled at the old saying they had used in 8th grade. Sam gave an extra large bounce, landing next to Ava on her but, and springing back into the air a few times before settling before her, grinning. "So!" she said energetically "where's Dale and Mel?" Ava rested her head thoughtfully on her hand. That was the million dollar question.

A.N. Ok lol this is another shorty, but that makes two in one night… I did have a fever, I still might, lol so any strange amazingly weird things, please excuse due to fever. Please R&R! grabs bowl of dry Honey Nut Cheerios and ponders writing another tonight


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